The Sweet Sounds of the Subversive: Billie Holiday

Since the 1920’s, disgruntled Americans have tried to ban the performing of music they deem morally unsound. From the emergence of jazz almost a century ago to modern hip-hop, cutting-edge Black music has always been at war with those who can’t tell a good tune when they hear it.

Check out Billie Holiday’s “Strange Fruit”, a haunting ballad once banned on American radio.